St Michael's one-roof church
A 14th-century church with nave and chancel under one roof, drastically restored in 1886, so every slope and valley counts.
Roofers in Minehead
Grade II* buildings, two churches and a conservation area beside Exmoor
Minehead has a Higher Town conservation area, Grade II* buildings and Exmoor National Park close to its edge. Every roof gets a survey and dated pictures, then a single written price.
From St Michael's single roof to the Avenue
Grade II* listed buildings
St Andrew's church, 2 the Avenue, the Statue of Queen Anne and Kildare Lodge Inn are each listed Grade II*.
Houses in Higher Town
A conservation area lies within about 0.75 km of the centre, so any change of covering needs a check first.
Street map of Minehead with Dunster, Carhampton, Porlock, Old Cleeve marked around it, and Taunton.
Between Dunster, Porlock and the Park edge
Dunster lies to the south-east of Minehead, with Carhampton just beyond it, while Porlock sits to the west and Old Cleeve, Washford and Watchet run away to the east.
About 21 miles north-west of Taunton, Somerset Council (unitary).
Minehead roof repairs and more
Four checks on the Exmoor edge
Reading a Minehead roof: the boundary, the church roofs, the drains and the scaffold
Four questions to answer before anyone climbs a Minehead roof, each one changing what the job involves and what it costs.
Check 1 of 4Which side of the Park boundary
Council or Park Authority decides
Minehead belongs to Somerset Council, yet Exmoor National Park reaches close to the town. Planning data puts about 5 per cent of a 1.5 km box around Minehead inside the Park. That is a small slice, but a house near the line has to be placed on one side or the other, and we settle it before any price is written. The answer names the body that must sign off the work, and a wrong guess can cost weeks while an application sits with the wrong desk.
Does Somerset Council or Exmoor decide?
Exmoor National Park Authority alone handles planning inside the Park, and it also oversees listed building control there. Beyond the line, Somerset Council takes that role. Our page on roof planning in Exmoor walks through the detail. Building control is a different service: for Somerset addresses, Park or no Park, you call Somerset Building Control on 0300 303 7790.
What does the Higher Town conservation area change?
Higher Town is a conservation area, designated in 1975 and revised on 22 May 2003 according to Somerset Council's table, and the same table also names Quay Street, Wellington Square and Whitegate Road. Somerset Council lists Article 4 directions for Minehead as well, and what each one covers is for its planning team to explain. What a dormer or a new window would need here is a question for that team, and our planning permission guide sets out the general position. Fitting back the same slate or tile in the existing bond differs from adding a window or altering the ridge, which is the capping that finishes the top of the roof.
We log the covering on each slope and where the house sits against every boundary, which means an application, where one is needed, begins from fact. If doubt remains, ask the planning team that covers your address: Exmoor's own planners for a house within the Park, Somerset Council's for one outside it. Do that before anyone orders materials.
Look for
- Garden near the Park boundary
- Roof windows on the street side
- Newer tiles among old ones
- Plans for a dormer
Check 2 of 4Church roofs and lead in the centre
One roof over nave and chancel
St Michael's church is recorded as 14th century, with 15th- and 16th-century windows, tower and additions. Its nave and chancel share a single roof, and the church was drastically restored in 1886. A long shared roof depends heavily on its lead, the soft metal sheet that seals valleys, gutters and the joins against walls. Once lead splits or lifts, rain reaches the stone beneath, and staining appears indoors well after the weather has cleared. Older roofs like this reward a slow look from the ground with binoculars before anyone goes up, because the failures are often visible as a dark streak under a joint.
Sound or needs work
- Sound: flat lead, tight laps, clean edges
- Needs work: split lead, lifted edge, stained wall
What decides the price
- Length of lead that has split or lifted
- Thickness chosen for the position
- Condition of the stone or timber under it
- How high the work sits
Who agrees to roof work at St Andrew's?
Historic England lists St Andrew's church at Grade II*, from 28 October 1976, and it remains a place where Church of England services continue. Roof work there goes through the faculty system, which the parish arranges, rather than through listed building consent from the council. The roofer then follows whatever is approved. Other Grade II* buildings in the centre, such as 2 the Avenue, listed in 1952, do need listed building consent for work that alters their character.
How long does lead last?
MyJobQuote puts lead flashing at over 80 years, a lower bound and never a promise. Old lead tends to give out at its laps, nail holes and creased corners long before the sheet itself is spent, so a patch often matches the fault. Where an entire run has cracked with age, replacing that run costs less over time than a string of patches, and we say which situation you have after seeing it. Our lead work page explains the codes, which are the thicknesses sold for each position, and the spots where leadwork most often goes wrong on older buildings.
Check 3 of 4Rain, gutters and a Zone 2 map
Rain's route from slope to drain
Flood Zone 2 is where the Environment Agency's Flood Map for Planning places the mapped centre of Minehead. A map like that speaks about land, never about a slate valley or a gutter run. GOV.UK runs a tool that tests one address at a time against long-term flood risk. Whatever the ground does, a roof has to shed rain quickly, and the parts doing that are the guttering, the downpipes and any flat section on the building. When they fail together, damp turns up in bedroom corners and behind kitchen units, far from the cause.
The map covers the ground around you; the gutters decide what becomes of the roof's rain.
From the ground
- Watch the gutters in a downpour
- Spot green staining below a joint
- Follow each downpipe to its gully
- Note puddles that outlast the rain
Leave to a roofer
- Re-hanging a drooping gutter run
- Replacing rotten fascia timber
- Clearing a choked flat roof drain
- Refixing a lifted edge trim
Why does my gutter drip at a joint?
A steady drip at one joint usually means the seal has perished or the run has sagged. The fitting advice from Brett Martin is 1mm of fall for each 600mm of run, so a single slipped bracket can leave a pool where the water should be moving. The board carrying the gutter is the fascia, and the soffit closes the gap beneath the eaves. After a season of soaking the fascia softens and brackets pull away. We test the timber as well as the gutter itself before we price.
Is a flat roof on an extension still worth repairing?
Sometimes. BS 6229:2025 sets a minimum finished fall of 1:80, and IKO advises designing for 1:40 so the finished roof still drains. A deck that holds standing water for days has lost its fall or has a blocked outlet. Less gives GRP, which is plastic reinforced with glass fibre and laid wet in place, a typical life of 25 to 40 years, and torch-on felt 10 to 20. A patch on a sound deck is reasonable, while a sagging deck needs replacing first. Our gutters, soffits and fascias page sets out the choices.
Check 4 of 4Scaffold, bats and the written price
Licence, nests, survey, then one price
Scaffolding that occupies part of the pavement or road stands on the highway, and it needs a licence from the highway authority under section 169 of the Highways Act 1980. For Minehead that authority is Somerset Council, which issues scaffold permits only to accredited contractors; the appointed contractor files the application. Poles kept inside your own boundary stay off the highway. A few slipped tiles on a low extension may need no more than a ladder, while a taller job wants a tower or full scaffold, and the survey settles which.
What decides the price
- Road or pavement space the scaffolding occupies
- Weeks the scaffolding stays in place
- Area of roof the survey finds worn out
- Whether building control needs notice
How long must we wait for the permit?
Somerset Council wants at least 10 working days before erection and charges £124.60 per 28-day period (April 2026). If a job runs long, the permit has to be extended and paid for again. We build that wait into the date we give you for starting, so the roof is not left open while paperwork catches up with the weather.
Will nesting birds or bats change the plan?
They can. GOV.UK includes roof repair and replacement among works that might affect bats, whose roosts the law protects, and a wild bird's nest in use is protected too. We look beneath the eaves and along the ridge during the visit, and the start moves around whatever turns up.
A full re-roof can involve building control. The Planning Portal says building control normally needs no application where under 25 per cent of the building envelope and under 50 per cent of the roof is affected. After the survey you get pictures of the actual slopes and one written price for the entire job, with the waste carried off by us. Send your Minehead address and we will book that visit.
Walked the roof?
- 1 read
- 2 not read yet
- 3 not read yet
- 4 not read yet
When you have read the checks, we walk the roof and show you the photos.
Minehead roofs, church tower to Exmoor edge
Which authority handles roof planning if my Minehead house is near Exmoor National Park?
It depends on whether the address is inside the Park boundary. Inside it, Exmoor National Park Authority is the planning authority; outside it, Somerset Council is. About 5 per cent of a 1.5 km box around Minehead falls in the Park, so the line matters for a few addresses. At the survey we record your address against the boundary and tell you whom to ask.
Does the council or the parish decide on work to St Andrew's roof in Minehead?
St Andrew's, listed Grade II*, still holds Church of England services, so its roof falls under the faculty system, which the parish arranges, and the council's listed building consent does not apply. Tradespeople then build to the approved scheme. Our survey can record the slopes, valleys and lead flashings to give that specification solid facts.
Do new roof windows in the Higher Town conservation area need approval?
Windows and dormers alter the roofscape seen from the street, which is why a conservation area scrutinises them, and the planning team can say what your proposal needs. Article 4 directions are also listed for Minehead, and the planning team must explain what they cover, so contact Somerset Council before ordering any window.
What happens if birds are nesting under the eaves of a Minehead house?
A wild bird's nest is protected while in use or being built: section 1 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 creates the offence of intentionally taking, damaging or destroying it. We check for nests during the survey, and work on that stretch of roof waits until the young birds have flown.
Villages between the Park and the coast
A Minehead survey starts at the boundary
Give your Minehead address and a word on the fault, and the Exmoor boundary gets checked before the visit.